Surgical hospital garment



Oct. 7, N, BELK|N SURGICAL HOSPITAL GARMENT Filed March 27. 1968 United States Patent .0 F

3,470,568 SURGICAL HOSPITAL GARMENT Nathan L. Belkin, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Angelica Corporation, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Mar. 27, 1968, Ser. No. 716,506

Int. Cl. A41d 9/00 U.S. Cl. 2--114 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A reversible gown having inner and outer ties located in tunnels formed by inner and outer folds of the gown panels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The gown with which this invention is illustrated may be of virtually any desired construction, and the one illustrated is only an example. In the illustrated gown, there is a skirt, comprising a front panel joined to two back panels. Sleeves are sewn to the upper edges of the front and back panels. A neck hem is sewn in the upper edges of the front and back panels and to the sleeves. Elastic cuffs are sewn to the ends of the sleeves. There are suitable ties joined to the neck hem.

Since this gown is particularly adapted for use as a hospital gown, it is tied at the back of the wearer. In this gown, the ties are shown at the waist, and it is the provision of a special tie arrangement that is of particular concern to this invention.

For this tie arrangement, the two back panels are folded twice to form a narrow band comprising three layers of material extending horizontally at the waist line. The edges of these layers are sewn together before the back panels are sewn to the front panels. The free edges of the thus formed back panels are hemmed.

Slits are formed in the inner and outer layers of the two tunnels. Ties are attached to the gown toward its front such as at the juncture between the front panel and the two back panels. There is a tie in the outer tunnel and in the inner tunnel of each back panel, each tie extending through its associated slit. By this arrangement, the gown is reversible because there are ties on both the inner and outer sides of the garment. Yet, the tie arrangement permits the formation of the tunnels by sewing on only one side without meticulous and difficult locating of extra fabric strips that would otherwise have to be sewn in place. The ties enable snug fastening of the gown to the wearer because they permit gathering of the back panels in the tie area. Also, the slits are located to provide overlapping of the back panels when the gown is worn regardless of the inversion of the gown.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a rear view of the garment.

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the garment with parts of the sleeves broken away and with the lower portion of the front panel broken away.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged rear view of the tie arrangement for the garment.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view in section taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged view in section taken along the line 55 of FIGURE 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in FIGURE 1, this gown comprises a front panel 11, back panels 12 and 13, and arms 14 and 15. Adjacent side edges of the front panel 11 and the back panel 12 are joined together along a seam 16. Likewise, adjacent side edges of the side panel 11 and the back panel 13 are joined together along a seam 17. The

3,470,568 Patented Oct. 7, 1969 arm 14 is closed along a seam 18, and the arm 15 is closed along a seam 19. The arm 14 is joined to the front and back panels 11 and 12 along seams 20 and 21, and the arm 15 is joined to the front and back panels 11 and 13 along seams 22 and 23.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the front panel 11 may include a separate panel 24 adjacent along the neck line. The neck line is provided with a hem 25. Conventional tie strings 26 and 27 are sewn to the neck line 25. There are elastic cuffs 28 and 29 sewn to the wrist areas of the sleeves 14 and 15. Also, the free side edges of the back panels 12 and 13 are finished with hems 30 and 31, and the bottom edge of the garment is finished with a hem 32.

In this garment, a single tie assembly is provided at the waist of the garment 10. This tie assembly may be differently located, and there may be more than one. To form the tie assembly, the back panels 12 and 13 are folded to form two tunnels 33 and 34. For each panel 12 and 13, this is done by simply folding the panel over on itself twice to provide an inner layer 35, a fold line 36, a middle layer 37, another fold line 38, and an outer layer 39. The layers 35, 37, and 39 are held together by lines of stitching 40 and 41.

There is a slit 42 formed in the outer layer 39. The slit 42 is spaced several inches from the hemmed edge 30 of the panel 12. Another slit 43 is formed in the inner layer 35. The slit 43 is spaced only a slight distance from the hemmed edge 39 of the panel 12.

A tie string 44 is positioned within the tunnel 33 with its inner end sewed to the garment adjacent the sewn line 16 between the panels 11 and 12. The free end 45 of the tie string 44 extends through the slit 42. Another tie string 46 is located within the tunnel 34. Its inner end is also sewed to the garment adjacent the sewn line 16 between the panels 11 and 12. The free end 47 of the tie string 46 extends through the slit 43.

As FIGURE 5 illustrates, the three layers 35, 37, and 39 are folded over to form a portion of the hem 30, with stitching 48 locking that portion of the hem.

In the other rear panel 13, two tunnels are formed in exactly the same way as just has been described, and details are not shown except for the appearance of the inner layer 49, and the outer layer 50 shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3. On this panel 13, however, the slit 51 in the outer layer 50 is located very near the seamed edge 31, whereas the slit S2 in the inner layer 49 is located several inches from the seamed edge 31. There is a tie string 53 in the outer tunnel having its inner end sewed to the garment adjacent the sewn seam 17 and its free end extending through the slit 51. Another tie string 54 is positioned in the inner tunnel and extends through the slit 52, with its inner end sewn to the garment adjacent the sewn edge 17.

This garment 10 is easy to make and can be made by conventional operations. The only difference is that the panels 12 and 13 are folded as illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5 to form the inner and outer tunnels before the panels 30 and 31 are seamed and before they are sewed to the other parts of the garment. Also, as the panels 12 and 13 are sewed to the front panel 11, the tie strings 44, 46, 53, and 54 may be positioned in place so that their ends within the tunnel are sewn in place at the same time as the panels 12 and 13 are sewn to the panel 11.

The garment 10 is completely reversible. Therefore, when the garment is removed, and is inverted, as usual, particularly because of the elastic cuffs 28 and 29, it need not be reinverted. The ties 44 and 53 are used to tie the garment in the condition illustrated. In the inverted condition, the ties 46 and 54 are used. In both conditions, the locations of the slits 42, 43, 51 and 52 assures that one back panel will overlap the other one when the gown is tied snugly to the wearer.

Since the ties are joined to the gown adjacent the front panel 11, they provide adjustability for difierent sizes of wearers. Such adjustability is not possible with fixed ties joined to the gown near the seamed edges 30 and 31.

Various changes and modifications may be made within the purview of this invention as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are within the scope and teaching of this invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A gown having panels with free edges adapted to be brought together by a tie assembly, the tie assembly comprising inner and outer tunnels formed in each panel substantially normal to its said free edge, each inner and outer tunnel combination being defined by a double fold of the panel to form inner, outer, and middle layers of the panel at the tunnel area, the three layers being joined together at their sides by stitching a slit in the outer and inner layers of each inner and outer tunnel combination, a tie string in each inner tunnel and having an inner end joined to the garment and a free end extending through the slit in the inner layer, a tie string in each outer tunnel and having an inner end joined to the garment and a free end extending through the slit in the outer layer.

2. The gown of claim 1 wherein the slit in the outer layer of one panel is spaced further from the said free edge of the one panel than the slit in the outer layer of the other panel and wherein the spacing of the slits in the inner layers is opposite to the foregoing.

3. The gown of claim 1 wherein the tie assembly is located adjacent the Waist area of the gown.

4. The gown of claim 1 wherein the slits are spaced from the said free edges.

References Cited 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,281,872 5/1942 Donnelly 2237 2,349,019 5/ 1944 Terrell 2221 2,707,282 5/1955 Paterson. 15 2,846,686 8/1958 Tames.

3,011,172 12/1961 Tames 2114X 2,511,247 6/1950 Champlin 112262 FOREIGN PATENTS 23 5,228 1/ 1964 Austria. 730,650 5/1955 Great Britain.

ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 25 252 

